MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry for Far East Development is going to support the promotion and screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Haulout," Minister Aleksey Chekunkov told TASS on Wednesday.

The documentary "Haulout," shot by Maxim and Evgenia Arbugaevs, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Documentary Film in December 2022, when the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its short list of Oscar nominations in ten categories. Other nominees in this category include India’s Elephant Whisperers and the US’ How do you measure a Year, The Martha Mitchell Effect, and Stranger at the Gate.

"Given the current situation of limiting the repertoire of foreign films, there are new opportunities for Russian cinema. I am sure Russian, and especially Far Eastern and Northern cinema, and "Haulout" belongs to both categories, will have its faithful viewers. We will facilitate the promotion and the exhibition of this movie in the Far East and the Arctic and all over the country," the Minister said.

The documentary was shot in three months at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The movie tells the story of marine biologist Maxim Chikalev's field season on the Arctic Ocean’s coast in Chukotka. The north fauna researcher has been monitoring the world’s largest walrus rookery for a decade.